OTAs are finding more ways to attract guests—either through heavy discounting, mobile-only offers or loyalty programs. Even hotels with a high percentage of direct bookings feel the need to protect their hard-earned guests. As Montboulard found—there’s a time when you need to move on from temporary solutions to keep up with OTA tactics. Having a scalable hotel website that can always be updated will help you do just that. And having a supportive team of experts to help you refine your story “makes all the difference in the world” according to Marc Sotkiewicz, owner of Domaine de Montboulard.
What challenge were Montboulard facing?
Domaine de Montboulard, situated in southwestern France, is an ancient barn and courtyard surrounded by 17th-century renovated buildings. Welcoming guests in five rooms and nine cottages, it is home to a rich history dating back to the 1600s. The beautiful construction stood the test of time. However, its digital counterpart struggled to be more than a temporary solution. With OTA activity increasing over the summer, Montboulard needed a strong digital presence to convince guests to keep booking direct. As Sotkiewicz pointed out, they were ready to “move to the next level and future-proof” their website. In addition, they were determined to protect their strong share of direct bookings from OTA efforts.
How did Hotelchamp help?
Montboulard teamed up with Hotechamp to build their new website and take advantage of Hotelchamp’s “unique point of view in the market”. Looking beyond the website builder, Sotkiewicz says “You were the only organization that seemed to understand the whole of the need, the Meta and the intelligent eCommerce portion”.
Ready to move away from their temporary solution, Sotkiewicz said he liked Hotelchamp eCommerce. But even more so—he liked the team. “I could launch a question and you were extremely responsive and that made all the difference in the world”. Building a new hotel website is a big project requiring many hours of work. Because of that, Hotelchamp’s support was a real differentiator from other competitors in the market. “The real strength of what happened was working with real people who listened, understood and responded”, said Sotkiewicz.
What was the outcome for Montboulard?
Now, Mountboulard no longer have a temporary solution, but a website they can keep improving and that helps them compete with OTAs. “There was an effort to build some scalability into the site. As we go forward we’re ready to do that and do that intelligently” Sotkiewicz said. Now they are “on path for a vastly improved website and eCommerce experience”. Moreover, they can now better refine their story and use Hotelchamp’s analytical tools to make for a powerful digital presence.
As Sotkiewicz says, “The outcome today is, we've got a future going forward and it'll continue to improve and do what we want it to do”. Understanding that their new website provides the opportunity to grow intelligently, Montboulard has “so much more potential than ever before.”
Click here to find out how we can help you to build a new hotel website, or contact us via live chat or at welcome@hotelchamp.com.
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